“haddon”

And we will call him Haddon – or at least his Christmas stocking is monogrammed, Haddon.

And in the Christmas card (or Valentines,… or Easter…. or whatever holiday is next;) it will say, “Leland, Grafton, and Haddon”

which is exciting and I feel a bit preemptive, except I am just sitting here, heavy with his life, my heart heavy with the concrete promises of God “exceedingly great and precious promises.” (Daily Light, Oct 31, PM)

Of course people ask all kind of questions, cute and simple and funny and whatever else, and I try to answer them sincerely and kindly…

Haddon is not a family name (that I know of).

And you spell Haddon “H-A-D-D-O-N”

And yes, his name is a bit straightforwardly from Charles Haddon Spurgeon. (and, yes, we did graduate from Southeastern, proudly… 🙂

His name is Haddon also because we like it. and because we have friends who named their son Haddon. and we liked it. I mean, y’all, we are simple people. 🙂 We just like it!

Plus, it is manly, and he can be a full grown man with the name Haddon. or Joseph, for that matter. Can boys have double names? I truly like both.

Ok. so want to know something providentially amazing?

Charles Haddon Spurgeon, preacher of preachers, a solid theologian and faithful servant of God, affirmed and argued for the doctrine of infant salvation.

The doctrine of infant salvation deals with whether or not unborn babies or infants go to heaven. During his time, this was a largely argued doctrine.

And he argued that ‘yes, infants are saved; infants go to heaven.’

Now, before I knew this, we had named Haddon, Haddon. And then through someone – surely a friend! – I learned this and thought, Lord, you cannot be serious!?…. because here He was, once again, giving such significance to this child and his precious name.

Let every mother and father know assuredly that it is well with the child, if God has taken it away from you in its infant days.

We ground our conviction about infant salvation very much upon the goodness of the nature of God. We say that the opposite doctrine that some infants perish and are lost, is altogether repugnant to the idea which we have of him whose name is Love.

Furthermore, we think that the ways of grace, if we consider them, render it highly improbable (if not impossible) that infant souls should be destroyed. ‘What saith the scripture?’ We know that God is so abundantly gracious from such expressions as:

‘The unsearchable riches of Christ’; ‘God, who is rich in mercy’; ‘A God full of compassion’; ‘The exceeding riches of his grace’.

All these are truly applicable without exaggeration or hyperbole. We know that God is good to all, and his tender mercies are over all his works. The grace of God has sought out the greatest sinners in the world. It has not passed by the vilest of the vile. He who called himself the chief of sinners was a partaker of the love of Christ.

…

Praise the Lord.

And as I remember that it is through Christ’s resurrection that we will rise again, and be together with all of those He has redeemed, even our Strength and Grace, and by God’s perfect and pleasing will, our entire family, in heaven forever, I am so glad that Haddon’s name hearkens to this great man, this great doctrine, this great reality, our great God, and His great home.